Extending a sick note

[ScuderiaSedici]

I had surgery yesterday, and despite recovery time for the op being stated to be 10-14 days, my surgeon only signed a note for a week. I was told that I could extend it with my GP.

Do I literally just put the form in on Tuesday next week and explain I had surgery and don't feel ready to go back? I'm struggling with sleep so far, and some pretty gross looking oozing etc., from my nose, and don't want to go back to work until I have a handle on all of that.

Im not saying your wrong but thats any job we all do stuff that arent our jobs but it isnt the patients fault.

No. But if patients don't complain, it is harder for us to hold secondary care to account.

But if patients do complain about every little thing they get a name for themselves and recieve worse care in the future. Surgeons can be mean and some of them think their God so when someone dares to question them you know about it. Trust me iv been there pick your battles and that is not one I would pick.

This isn't every little thing. It's a surgeon deliberately refusing to write '2 weeks' on a fit note and writing 'one week' a the same time as saying to a patient 'you need two weeks off work'. It's a significant probity issue.

That is a little thing. Have you actually spent much time in hospital as a patient had many surgeries. If the worse thing a surgeon does is be stingy with a sick note you will understand thats definitely a little thing

we'll have to agree to disagree here

I think so and I'm honestly not having a go at gps you guys do a great job and I do understand it must be frustrating when your so busy and you're then doing other people's jobs to.

Op your operation was only yesterday, you may well feel a lot better in a few days .
As for not understanding your treatment and after care why not advocate for yourself while in the appointments and ask .
Your training to be a solicitor so surely your able to ask questions and take information on board .

Given that many patients at a GP surgery will be limited to the same few hospitals, would it make more sense and be more efficient for the GP surgery to complain about the number of patients being sent with inadequate sick/fit notes after surgery, rather than dozens of patients?

It’s really frustrating as a patient when you feel like a pawn between healthcare professionals. Yes the surgeon should have put the right amount on the note. How is the patient meant to know that? As a patient, we can literally spend hours being passed from pillar to post. It takes time and energy to fight to be heard and can make a negative difference to how we are treated - it shouldn’t, but it does.

Last year, I needed a dressing changed every two days. When I was discharged from hospital, I was told I’d need a nurse to look at it in a couple of days. I booked an appointment at a GP where I had temporarily registered as we were away at the time (uk). They said it would need changing every two days and just booked in appointments. I spent literally hours trying to get through and make appointments to my GP for when I got home. My surgery said I would need to go to a walk in centre. The GP surgery I saw on holiday said my GP surgery should do it when I got home. My surgery booked one day, which would have been 72 hours between. Holiday GP surgery said that would be too long. I called my surgery to change it. They said they wouldn’t book another one and it needs to be done at walk-in centre. I said I’d be sitting there for a few hours every other day. The GP surgery told me that was ridiculous and that walk-in centre would do pre-bookables. The walk-in centre told me they wouldn’t do pre-bookables. I contacted the surgery to tell them that and they said they still wouldn’t book any. When I became more and more ill, I asked if they could even book one appointment at the surgery for me and that they’d previously agreed to book for the nurse, but was told no. The nurse was only for limited patients and as I wasn’t 100% housebound (I’m about 90%), this wasn’t an option. I emailed the practice manager. In short, I was sent on a wild goose chase (there were other things walk-in centre said which I had to chase to no avail), which served no purpose and I spent hours and hours in the walk-in centre for the rest of the summer until I was finally allowed to let my husband change the dressing. Apart from the first two times when I was away, the dressings took literally two minutes. What are you meant to do when all the computers say no? My baseline of what I can do, which was already low, has permanently reduced following the summer.

It’s not quick or easy chasing these things up and it’s often fruitless or not resolved in the timeframe needed. This is on top of all the visits. I still haven’t heard back from the practice manager!

And this is exactly the reality of dealing with the nhs as a patient that drs don't see i honestly feel i need a secretary at times due to the amount of times I spend dealing with the nhs being passed back and forth. The amount of times drs will say thats nothing to do with us you need to speak to this other dr which after weeks of constantly calling, emailing you finally get hold of their secretary who said they will ask and call you back obviously they dont call you back so several more days of calls for them to say no its nothing to do with them its for the original dr to deal with then its back to weeks of emails and calls to get hold of them. And this is per medical problem so when you have multiple things going on at once it literally takes up your whole life.

I have a prolapsed disc . I ring 48 hours before and request it. Because I’m having regular appointments to manage pain they are pretty good with it

I hear you - I struggle with admin side too. I’ve become a high healthcare user in the last few years (long covid) and it’s difficult. It’s so flippant as though it’s going to be a quick call or easy to speak to someone or easy to ‘pop’ back to hospital and arrange someone to be with you on days too ill or childcare to enable you to do so.

I completely agree - dealing with the NHS as a patient is a nightmare, and as a GP about 10% of my appointments are taken up with patients who have come to me because something has gone wrong elsewhere admin wise.

Just think how much more GP capacity that would be scaled up nationally if secondary care could just get their act together, answer the phone and do their own paperwork.............

That’s a lot of time. Do GP surgeries raise complaints. Are they listened to? Patients do complain, but sending us from pillar to post doesn’t really solve anything except make life even more difficult. Patients don’t always have the bandwidth to deal with it.

The other side of the coin is people using urgent care as health issues have escalated so much when people are unable to get an appointment. In my earlier example, it was another GP surgery and a walk-in centre both telling me that my GP surgery should be dealing with it.

You can self certify for up to 7 days anyway. Gp can issue a fitnote beyond what you already have. Recovery time is different to taking time off work though, you can return before you are fully healed if it is safe and appropriate.